Bad Little Girl
by Interspark
Summary: Marceline thinks back to when she was just twenty years old. And how she lost Simon Petrikov to his magic crown, and how she became the Vampire Queen.
1. Chapter

Bad Little Girl

Chapter One

Marceline the Vampire Queen floated on her back in the mouth of the cave that contained her tiny cottage. Resting on her belly was the bright red bass guitar she had made from her family's prized axe. She strummed on it absent-mindedly as she gazed out into the sunlight. Not far from her cave, Finn and Jake were playing one of their idiotic games.

Marceline sighed. Even though all she needed to go outside in daytime was a large sunhat or umbrella, she had never felt like she belonged with day dwellers like them. Sometimes she even felt alienated by Bonnibel. Marceline loved hanging out with the friends she had made since she settled into her cottage after her travels, but sometimes she felt like she could only be herself around other undead, and sometimes they could be real jerks…

Marceline sighed again. That was just they way it had been, even since _then_.

**983 Years Earlier**

Marceline leapt over another abandoned car and continued sprinting down the cracked road that ran through the ruins of the metropolis. She glanced nervously over her shoulder. There was no one there, but she continued to run nonetheless.

In her left hand, Marceline clutched a solid gold crown, imbedded with three red gems. As she ran, she could hear the whispered voices that had driven Simon Petrikov insane, echoing in the back of her mind.

_Wear me… or return me to the one that will!_

Marceline winced. She had seen some pretty scary stuff since her father had abandoned her in this wasteland, but she would rather die than let that crown touch her head. And there was no way she was letting _him_ have it back. If she just kept it from him for long enough, maybe there was still a chance…

While she was distracted, Marceline had stopped paying attention to where she was treading. Suddenly, her foot plunged through where she thought the tarmac would be and she fell, head over heels into a pothole the size of a small pond.

Marceline's head span. She regained her bearings and her heart skipped a beat when she realised she wasn't holding the crown anymore. She frantically scanned the area around her and patted herself down. Slowly, she looked up and froze with fear. The crown was teetering on the edge of the pothole, less than a foot above her head. Marceline was too scared to move as it slowly rocked backwards and forwards.

Just as Marceline was about to get up and collect the crown, it tipped forwards and fell towards her. Marceline screamed and tried to cover her head. She sat there for a couple of seconds, her eyes squeezed shut and her hands firmly grasping handfuls of her wild, black hair. Slowly, Marceline opened her eyes and flinched.

Standing right in front of her, was a fat, old man with pale blue skin and an enormous, white beard. He was dressed in a battered and torn, black suit and held the crown, having caught it just before it landed on Marceline's head.

"Bad Gunter!" Simon scalded Marceline, as he repositioned the crown on his head. "Now you stop stealing daddy's crown!"

Marceline stood up. She had been taller than Simon ever since she was 16, but he had stopped being the Simon she loved long before then. Not that Marceline would ever truly accept that.

"My name isn't Gunter!" Marceline begged Simon to remember, for what seemed like the millionth time. "It's Marceline! MAR-CE-LINE!" Tears began to swell up in Marceline's eyes as she watched Simon's blank expression.

Simon patted Marceline's head patronisingly. "Sure it is sweetie, now come on, let's go home."

Simon's beard divided down the middle and the two halves began to flap, lifting him up into the air. He held Marceline's wrist and tried to lift her up with him, but she pulled free of his grasp.

"Ehh, you go ahead. I'll see ya later." Marceline said, trying her best to smile.

"Ok. Don't stay out too late!" Simon cried as he flew away.

Marceline sighed. That was the kind of thing Simon used to say, and _meant_. Back when he actually worried about her when she was away for too long. Back when he cared…

"Goodbye Simon…" Marceline whispered. And began walking in the other direction.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

**Three Months Later**

Lying under an overpass, amidst a heap of scrap metal, sat a decrepit caravan, covered in rust and with all the windows cracked or broken. A pile of thick, pink goo oozed down from the road above and covered half of it. An onlooker would think that the caravan hadn't been touched for years, unless they went inside, where they'd see a pile of rags and moldy cushions, arranged to form a sort of bed, and makeshift shelves, containing various sentimental trinkets such as tacky snow globes, small stones and bits of animal skeletons. In the corner, more of the pink goo was stretching in from a hole in the ceiling, coming to a rest on the floor.

On the bed, sat an ancient, rancid teddy bear. It was covered in stains and one of the button eyes was hanging from a thread.

Suddenly, the caravan's door was forcefully kicked open and Marceline walked in, accompanied by a small cloud of rust from the door's hinges. Her clothes were ragged and torn, and on her shoulder, she rested a large tree branch. Recently, the world had been getting more and more… active. The green, oozing creatures that had tormented Marceline and Simon when she was a child were becoming an increasingly common sight and Marceline had come to rely on the tree branch to defend herself with. She had even given it a name. It was called Vera.

Marceline rested Vera against the wall and collapsed onto her bed.

"Hey Bubblegum." She said to the pink goo.

The pink goo had also been a common sight when Marceline was growing up. It had covered several small areas in the old city. Since then she had moved to a new city, to get away from Simon, and a couple of weeks later she started seeing the goo again. Although she never saw it move, she would sometimes come to her caravan to find no trace of it anywhere. At other times she would wake up to see it oozing down from the hole in her ceiling, smiling at her with the formation of dark patches that sort of looked like a face.

Marceline had named it 'Bubblegum'. She read the word on a packet once, which contained something that looked remarkably like the goo after Marceline had tried to eat it and spat it out in disgust.

"Still no food today…" Marceline told Bubblegum, sadly. "What's it been? 2… 3 weeks? I'll be fine for a little longer."

Marceline's stomach growled noisily, not helping her console the goo. The face on Bubblegum seemed to be frowning. Even though it couldn't talk, Marceline strongly believed that Bubblegum understood every word she said. Even if it didn't, it sure beat talking to Vera…

"I'll be fine!" Marceline reassured it. "I never saw my dad eat a thing in my life, unless you count souls. And I can go for months without food."

She winced and rubbed her belly. It was getting dark out, and Marceline never liked to be out late. She didn't like the idea of things creeping up on her in the dark.

"I'll go check again tomorrow." She sighed, and rolled over to go to sleep.

The next day, Marceline walked along the city's empty streets, casually swinging Vera backwards and forwards. She looked up at the towering skyscrapers and smiled. They reminded her of the rock formations in the Nightosphere where she used to play as a child. As Hunson Abadeer's daughter, it was likely that Marceline was the only person besides him who actually enjoyed being there.

Marceline turned a corner and walked into a part of the city she had never been in. It all looked mostly the same, but Marceline had every corner of the explored part of the city memorized.

A few minutes later, Marceline stopped and squinted into the distance. Once she realized what she was looking at, she broke into a broad grin and began to sprint. There, growing out of the wreckage of a collapsed building, was an enormous apple tree, covered in ripe, red apples.

Marceline could barely believe her luck. She loved apples, but she hardly ever saw them. She reached up and knocked one down with Vera, then devoured it ravenously, even eating the core. Then she ate another, and another. Then she noticed something strange.

Lying on the floor, amongst the apples that had fallen, were several apples that were white as snow. Cautiously, Marceline picked one up. She had seen apples that were various colours, green, red, yellow. But never white. It had the exact same texture as the other ones, crisp and hard. Marceline slowly sank a tooth into it and took a bite.

Immediately, Marceline spat out her mouthful and dropped the apple. It tasted like something had crawled into her mouth and died. She scrambled for one of the red apples and crammed it into her mouth to cover up the taste.

Once Marceline had calmed down, she realized she could hear something. She stood up straight and readied Vera. Then she realized it was laughter. The only person beside herself Marceline had ever heard laugh was Simon. This laugh was crueler and somehow cold.

Marceline spun around and realized the laughter was coming from inside a large shop right next to the tree. All the glass from the front window was missing, so it was just a dark hole in the front of the building.

From the shadows at the back of the shop, a figure emerged. He was a boy, around Marceline's age, with shaggy, black hair and a checkered shirt. And he was _floating_.

Marceline stared at him. Even Simon could only fly by flapping his beard, there was _nothing_ keeping this boy in the air. It was eerie.

"You don't really like the white ones, huh?" He said, in a sultry, nonchalant voice.

A million ideas rushed through Marceline's head. Who are you? How did you survive the war? How the hell are you _floating_!? But decided against asking any of them. If there was one thing she had learnt, living on her own, it was to always be strong, and if you weren't, then pretend to be. And asking questions would make her seem weak and stupid.

"No…" Marceline said, in answer to the boy's question. "Do you?"

The boy laughed again. "No way."

He drifted to the front of the shop and picked up a large, black umbrella off the floor. He opened it and floated towards Marceline. Marceline looked up, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Another question was added to Marceline's list.

"I'll tell you a secret though." The boy continued. "If you eat a white apple while it's still on the tree… I swear you will never taste anything better."

Genuinely intrigued, Marceline turned to look at the tree, but all the apples she could see were red. She turned to walk around the tree, but almost as soon as she did, the boy called out to her.

"Hey, right here."

He was floating next to a pure white apple, pointing at it.

"You don't want it?" Marceline asked, dubiously.

"Nah, I hate apples." He reassured her.

Carefully, Marceline climbed on top of a pile of debris so she could reach the apple. She supported the bottom of it so it wouldn't fall, and took a bite.

Marceline spat the bite out and again, scrambled for a red apple. The apple had tasted even worse than the first one.

The boy howled with laughter. He rolled around in the air while making sure the umbrella stayed above him. Marceline wasn't nearly as amused. With an angry growl, she leapt off the wreckage of the building, swung Vera above her head and brought it crashing down on the boy's.

Marceline had meant for the blow to knock the boy out, but he only seemed mildly irritated. But even that was enough to put a smirk on Marceline's face. The boy floated back into the shop and dropped the umbrella.

"Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" He snarled. "Well I've got a joke for you too."

He drifted into the back of the shop and returned a moment later with two air horns. Marceline knew all too well what they were. She had unknowingly used one when she was a child, forcing Simon to put his crown on again to protect them.

Before Marceline could stop him, the boy raised the air horns above his head, and pressed the buttons on them.

An ear-splitting wail echoed across the otherwise silent city. Marceline turned around and prepared herself. Survival rule number one for Marceline had been to stay quiet at all times. And that boy had just alerted their presence to everything in the city.

Sure enough, the street began to stir. Creatures were beginning to emerge from under manhole covers, from inside buildings and from out of the wreckage that littered the street.

Most of them were the familiar green creatures that oozed slime from holes all over their body, but amongst them were things that were new. Creatures that seemed to be made out of the tarmac, out of metal, Marceline even noticed pools of water that seems to be flowing along the road in her direction.

The boy floated out of the shop and above the small army that was bearing down on Marceline.

"Oh yeah… This is gonna be hilarious."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Marceline ran across the street, bashing a few of the green creatures out of her way as she ran, and leapt at a drainpipe that climbed up the side of the building. Marceline was far too exposed. If she made the creatures climb after her, she could deal with them one at a time. As Marceline climbed, she realised with dread that the green creatures weren't following her in single file, instead they were crawling up the side of the building, like slugs.

Marceline climbed as fast as she could, but when she reached around ten stories up, she realised that the creatures were almost on top of her. She leapt across to an empty window frame and climbed into the building.

Inside, was an enormous office, that took up almost the entire floor, not that Marceline knew what an office was. As she climbed over the mass of desks and filing cabinets that littered the room, she realised that the creatures were beginning to climb in from the windows all around her. This was no good either. If they attacked from all angles at once, she wouldn't stand a chance.

Marceline climbed across the wreckage of the office and continued ascending the building via the stairs. She passed floor after floor, but the groaning, squelching sound of the creatures never sounded that far away.

Eventually, Marceline ran out onto the roof and slammed the door behind her. All around her, Marceline saw ruined buildings and columns of rising smoke. She had never seen a city from this high up before. Simon had always told her that the skyscrapers were too dangerous to enter.

Marceline backed away from the door and readied Vera. The door began to shake as it was bashed from the other side. Marceline trembled in anticipation. Suddenly, a hand touched her shoulder. Marceline screamed, spun around and swung Vera, narrowly missing the black-haired boy's face.

He floated behind her, still under his umbrella.

"You know a lot of them are still climbing the building, right?" He droned.

Marceline's heart froze. She pushed past the boy and ran to the edge of the building to see that he was right. Dozens of them were approaching the roof. Suddenly, the door flew off its hinges and the creatures spilled out.

Marceline charged forwards and began swinging Vera at them as fast as she could. But for every one she bludgeoned, two more seemed to climb out the door and over their bodies. And then the ones that had climbed up the wall began to spill onto the rooftop. Marceline span around, taking in the advancing creatures that were covering the roof and closing in on her. With no other options, Marceline swallowed her pride.

"Do something!" She pleaded to the boy.

"Don't worry babe, I have a plan." He smiled, floating above the advancing creatures. "I'm gonna watch them kill you. And then I'm gonna laugh."

Boiling rage began to overcome Marceline's fear, and at the last moment, she had an idea that saved her life. She leapt forwards and ran over the creatures' heads. Green slime covered the soles of her boots, but she kept her balance.

Before the boy could react, Marceline jumped at him, and clubbed his face with Vera with all her might. She snatched his umbrella from him before he could recover. The boy screamed, but Marceline didn't have time to see why. She closed the umbrella, forced her way through the mob of green creatures and dived from the rooftop.

She gritted her teeth as she hurtled to the ground, her black hair flapping behind her like a cape. Hoping her hunch was right, she held onto the umbrella as hard as she could.

Just as Marceline had predicted, the boy had dived after her. He seized the umbrella while Marceline was just a couple of stories from the ground. As he wrestled it out of her grip, Marceline let go and fell nimbly to the floor.

Several of the green creatures had begun to drop from the rooftop and out of the skyscraper's windows. Marceline grudgingly turned around and ran. She wanted nothing more that to beat the boy to submission, but it seemed like that would have to wait.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

When Marceline was eight, she had found an old book in a ruined library. Although she was already an excellent reader, she would often lie on Simon's lap and ask him to read it to her. Simon would often try to convince Marceline that there were other books that a girl her age might enjoy more, ones with fewer long words and far less scary, but Marceline was insistent.

"Now, you know Marceline." Simon would say, every single time he closed the book. "You know this is all just make-believe right? Really, there's no such thing as vampires."

After which, Marceline would laugh. "I know that, Simon. I'm not a little kid."

Marceline rolled over and groaned. She still dreamt of Simon all the time, but she had almost forgotten about that stupid book she had used to love so much. Vampires… what a load of trash.

Marceline rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. She blinked twice, and slowly convinced herself that she wasn't dreaming.

Kneeling over her, with his mouth wide open, was the boy from earlier. His sharp fangs were pointing right at her. He quickly closed his mouth and retracted his head slightly.

"Wow… this is awkward…" He muttered.

Before the boy could react, Marceline sat up, grabbed a handful of the boy's hair and slammed his face into the side of the caravan, causing several of her possessions to fall off the shelves. Without letting go of the boy's hair, Marceline kneed him in the stomach and elbowed him in the small of the back, sending him crashing to the floor of the caravan.

"Geez… relax babe…" The boy groaned.

Marceline seized Vera.

"My... Name… Is… Marceline!" Marceline cried, emphasising each word with a blow from Vera.

There was a clear indent in the floor of the caravan, where the boy was lying, face down. Marceline looked up and breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed Bubblegum wasn't there. She would have hated for it to have seen that display. She got the impression that it was very judgemental from time to time.

The boy groaned and carefully looked up. Marceline glared at him, Vera in hand. He quickly stood up and floated to the other side of the caravan.

"Explain yourself! Now!" Marceline demanded.

"You want _me_ to explain!?" The boy asked. "What about you? Who beats up a vampire with their bare hands? That doesn't happen!"

"A what…?"

"Dude… I'm a vampire."

Marceline stared at the boy. The boy who was floating. The boy who had pointed teeth and didn't like sunlight. The boy who crept around sleeping girls. She wanted desperately to quote Simon's advice, 'There's no such thing as vampires', but she was seeing some very strong evidence that Simon had been wrong.

"I'm half-demon." Marceline eventually said, in answer to the boy's question.

"Oh… sweet." The boy replied.

There was an moment of awkward silence, during which Marceline realised how angry she was supposed to be.

"So what the hell, dude?" She demanded. "You were gonna drink my blood?"

The boy raised his hands defensively.

"No… ew. I drink the colour red. But look, I need you babe… Marceline!" He quickly corrected himself, as Marceline raised Vera.

"What do you mean, you need me?" Marceline scowled, warning the boy to chose his words carefully, with her glare.

The boy gritted his fanged teeth nervously.

"Ok, look. I'm a member of this gang, and it's vampires only." He explained. "Except it's just me and like, five other dudes, so it's _crazy_ boring! And because mortals are so rare right now, recruiting one gets you mad street cred. And if it's a girl…" He started, but Marceline had heard enough.

She darted forward and jabbed Vera at his face. They boy ducked and quickly darted out of the door. Marceline chased after him. It was the dead of night, a full moon hung in the sky.

The boy flew out from under the overpass and out of Marceline's reach.

"Ok, I promise I won't turn you. You'll still probably get in!" He shouted quickly, as Marceline scanned the area for something to throw at him. "Come on! Vampires are people too, you know! And I don't know if you've noticed, but 'people' are in pretty short supply right now."

Marceline fumed under her breath. She knew what the boy was getting at, and she had to admit that he had a point. Marceline had met all of two people in the last fourteen years, and loneliness was something she had battled with all that time, even with Simon.

She sighed. "Say I was interested…" She started. They boy's eyes lit up. "… where do you guys meet?"

"In the basement of the store I was in before." The boy said. "Hey, I'll see you around. Sun's about to come up." He started to drift away. "It's Conner, by the way."

Marceline frowned as Conner flew away. Was she really considering hanging out with that loser? She usually slept in until the sun was up, but she was wide-awake. More than ever, she wished Simon was there, she really needed someone to talk to.

"I mean, the book said that vampires kill people! But if I have to spend the rest of my life with no one but you to talk to, I'M gonna start killing people!"

Marceline sat on the awning above a shop window, her legs hanging over the side. Next to her, Bubblegum was spread over the awning and was dripping onto the street.

"No offence…" She added, apologetically. Bubblegum didn't seem to have taken any.

Marceline had found Bubblegum quickly enough, and had sat next to it, filling it in on her encounter with Conner. In between the buildings, the horizon was beginning to glow in anticipation of the sunrise.

"I mean sure, he tried to kill _me_, but that turned out fine. Maybe he knew I'd be ok? I _did_ hit him pretty hard."

Bubblegum stared at her with a look of confused interest. Marceline groaned.

"A little input here would be cool!" She snapped. "I know you can't talk, but you gotta give me something! How about blinking? Once for yes, twice for no?"

Bubblegum didn't react.

"Should I meet this dweeb's stupid gang?" Marceline said, loudly, spacing out the words.

Still, Bubblegum only stared at her. Marceline groaned again.

She jumped down from the awning and onto the street. Deep down, she knew she had already made her decision. She couldn't go the rest of her life with no one to talk to except a pile of pink goo, and even if they _were_ evil, it was better than nothing.

Marceline carefully walked over the shop's threshold. Broken glass and bits of plaster crunched under her boots. She squinted into the back of the shop, but it was impossible to see more than a couple of feet in.

"Conner?" Marceline called out, nervously.

"You must be Marceline." A gruff voice said, making Marceline jump.

A man emerged from the darkness. He seemed around fifty years old. He was fat and had a wiry, brown beard. Over his shoulders, was draped an impossibly tacky fur cape, but that was nothing compared to the _eyesore_ he had perched on his head. It was a gold crown, far more elaborate than Simon's. It had red velvet in the middle and gems in every colour of the rainbow arranged around it.

Like Connor, he was floating above the ground, had razor-sharp teeth and a bite mark on his neck.

"I've been expecting you." He said.

"And you are…?" Marceline asked, irritably.

"Archie." The vampire declared, forcefully. "The Vampire King!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Archie let Marceline through a trap door at the back of the shop, which led to an enormous cellar. The room seemed to be centred around a large dining table, covered in playing cards, red and white foods and ashtrays. At one end of the table, sat an enormous throne, almost as tasteless as Archie's crown.

All around the room's walls and covering a fair bit of the floor, were piles upon piles of treasure of all descriptions. Gold bars, diamonds, jewellery. Marceline was reminded of the pirate caves and dragons' dens she'd read about in fairy tales.

Sitting at the table, or otherwise loitering around the room, were five other vampires. Most of them were in their late twenties or thirties and, as Conner had said, they were all men. Conner himself, was perched on one of the piles of treasure on the opposite side of the room.

"Men." Archie announced, immediately gaining the vampires' attention. "Our new recruit has arrived!"

The vampires cheered enthusiastically. Archie put his enormous hands on Marceline's shoulders, making her slightly uncomfortable. A couple of the vampires stood up and floated over to the entrance.

"Welcome to the Black Fang Gang, Marceline!" One of them grinned.

He held his hand out to her and made a fist. Marceline recognised the expression from a comic book she'd read once. She held her fist up with her free hand and bumped him.

The other vampire floated over to her and tried to take Vera off her.

"Here… let me get that for you…" He said forcefully. Marceline tried to resist, but eventually, the vampire pried the tree branch from her hand.

Marceline was led into the middle of the room and sat at the end of the table, opposite the throne.

"So what do you guys do, anyway?" Marceline asked, looking at the piles of treasure.

"We steal stuff." One of the vampires said, in a voice that suggested he was thinking, 'are you blind?'

"But there's no one left to steal from…" Marceline replied, with an equal amount of snideness in her voice.

"We salvage stuff then!" The same vampire snapped back.

"The boys like… shiny things." Archie explained. He strolled round to the back of Marceline's chair. "But of course, none of this is worth dirt, compared to finding a pretty young mortal like you…" Archie stroked Marceline's cheek with his finger.

Marceline cringed. She stood up and turned around, not much liking Archie standing behind her.

Archie sighed like he was about to say something difficult. "Marceline, you should understand that 'Vampire King' is not a figurative title, nor is it a means of satisfying my ego. The reign of vampires _is_ coming, and I have no intention of ruling it alone. How would you like to become 'Marceline, the Vampire Queen'?"

Marceline backed away from him slowly. What had she gotten herself into?

"No thanks, dude." She said carefully. "I like my sunlight."

She glanced fleetingly over at the ladder that led to the trapdoor and the shop above, but two of the vampires had already moved between her and it. While she was distracted, another vampire had snuck behind her. He wrapped his arms around her torso, held her so tight she could barely breathe and lifted her off the ground.

Marceline struggled and kicked against him, but it was hopeless. By comparison, Connor was a _pathetically _weak vampire.

Archie sighed again. "It would have been a far more fitting beginning to your chronicle as a ruler had you accepted the transformation willingly… But this will have to do…"

Marceline screamed and thrashed as hard as she could as Archie advanced. The other vampires watched with great anticipation. Archie placed a hand on the side of Marceline's face and forced her head to one side, he brushed her hair over her shoulder… and stopped.

"What the hell is this…?" Archie snarled quietly. The other vampires craned their necks to see what he was talking about. "CONNER! GET OVER HERE!" He roared.

Connor almost fell out of the air in his haste to float across the room.

"Connor… who do we turn into vampires…?" Archie asked, his voice quivering with rage.

"Mortals?" Connor tried, meekly.

Archie grinned terrifyingly. "Be more specific."

"Hum…"

"DOES THAT LOOK LIKE A HUMAN TO YOU!?" Archie bellowed. He pointed at Marceline. More specifically, he pointed at her ears, her pointed ears.

"W…w…well, she mentioned being half-demon… I assumed the other half…"

"You let a FILTHY DEMON IN HERE!?" Archie looked about ready to bite Connor's head off. "Well… that means _you_ get to deal with her!"

He stepped forwards and seized a handful of Marceline's hair. The vampire holding her immediately let go.

"Ow! Let go of me you jerk!" Marceline shouted, But Archie ignored her.

He dragged her around the table and down a narrow corridor opposite the ladder. At the end of which, was a tiny room with a large hole in the floor. Archie let go of Marceline's hair and pushed her in.

Marceline fell and landed hard, on solid concrete. The vampires had tunnelled through the floor of their building and into the sewers. Marceline stood up and looked around. The tunnel stretched into the darkness in both directions, it had run dry years ago.

"You'd better run, demon!" Archie shouted down at her. "You'll live longer!"

Marceline wanted nothing more than to tear the swine's brain out through his mouth, but remembering how easily she had been overpowered by a single vampire, never mind six, running seemed like a good idea.

Marceline didn't understand it. The sewers could take her anywhere in the city, and as soon as she found a manhole cover, she could escape into the sunlight. It didn't take her long to figure it out. If Marceline went more than half a mile down any of the tunnel's many twisting corridors, she would run into a sturdy barricade, which she couldn't shift. And any manhole cover she came across was either welded shut or weighed down by something huge.

This was where the vampires sent people they wanted to hunt and kill. Marceline was a rat in a maze.

And she was trapped.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Marceline raced around the sewers, desperate to find a way out. She didn't know how long it would be before Connor was sent down to kill her. She really wasn't worried about him, but once she'd killed him, another one would come down. Her only fleeting hope was that they'd come one at a time and that she could take them by surprise. But even then, she had no weapon.

Marceline rounded a corner and came face to face with Connor. She very nearly ran right into the sharp end of a jewel-encrusted sword he was holding.

"Connor!" Marceline gasped.

She wasn't expecting him to be sent down for a while. She was expecting them to make her run around and panic for a bit longer. The vampires must have _really_ wanted her dead.

"So apparently, vampires don't like demons…" Connor said, apologetically. "Only got turned a few weeks ago, didn't know that."

"So what do we do now?" Marceline asked. She had seen bloodlust before, and Connor wasn't showing it.

He hid it well.

Connor stepped forwards and swung the sword at Marceline's neck. He was fast, but Marceline was faster. She ducked the sword and jumped backwards, out of his reach.

"Well, I'm gonna kill you to make up for my mistake. As the new guy, I can't really afford to mess up like this."

He stepped forwards and jabbed at Marceline, then continued to swing the sword at her, carelessly. Marceline had never seen anyone fight with a sword before, but she could tell that Connor's technique was clumsy and untrained. He preceded every attack by drawing his arm back to give it more speed, but that just made it impossible for Marceline to miss.

"You know." Connor said. "I almost feel bad. We could be down here until the day you die, and you would have no way of ever killing me!"

"Don't be so sure." Marceline snarled. "I've heard of vampires before, and I've heard of their weaknesses!"

Connor scoffed. "I can tell you right now that that's all bogus. Well, except sunlight."

He swung at Marceline again, and again, she dodged effortlessly.

"So garlic?"

"Fake."

"Crucifixes?"

"Fake."

"Wooden stake through the heart?"

"Fake."

A smile crept across Marceline's face. "You're lying."

Furiously, Connor drove the sword at Marceline's chest. Marceline stepped to the side, and before Connor could withdraw his sword. Marceline pulled her fist back and punched Connor's face as hard as she could. Connor dropped the sword and fell to the ground.

Before he could get up, Marceline leapt forwards and knelt on his shoulders. Connor ran his tongue along his teeth and his eyes widened.

"You punched out my tooth!" He cried. He looked ridiculous with only one fang.

Ignoring him, Marceline continued. "You're friend upstairs gave the wood thing away when he took my stick."

"So what?" Connor spat. "Fact is, we _did_ take your stick, so what are you gonna…"

Marceline reached into her left boot and produced a flat, wooden letter opener, with a novelty frog carved into it. She twirled it around her fingers and smiled.

For the first time, Connor looked scared. "Now come on babe… don't do anything…"

Marceline plunged the letter opener into Connor's chest, and with an unearthly wail, he turned into smoke.

Marceline stood up and grinned. One down. But there were still five left, they were all much stronger than Connor, and all she was armed with was a sword and a letter opener. Marceline's victory celebration hadn't lasted long.

She sank to her knees and sighed. She ran every possible scenario through her mind, and none of them ended well. Then she noticed something lying on the stone floor, a couple of feet away. She crawled over to it and picked it up.

Once she realised what it was, Marceline felt a flicker of hope.

Archie slouched in his throne as the remaining four vampires sat at the table, playing poker. They seemed to be playing for gems and red food.

"Say Archie…" One of the vampires said. "You think the kid's gonna beat that thing down there?"

Archie raised his eyebrows. "Well, seeing as she doesn't have anything to kill him with, he's hardly Black Fang material if she does. Either way, if she climbs out of there, don't mess around, just kill her."

The vampires nodded in agreement and went back to their poker game.

"Demons…" Archie spat, under his breath.

A few minutes later, they heard a scratching, crumbling sound. They turned to look down the corridor that led to the hole. A hand, clutching a sword emerged and rested on the ground, and a couple of seconds later, Marceline crawled out. She quickly stood up and readied her sword.

Like Archie, Marceline was in no mood to play games. She charged through the corridor and at the nearest vampire. She swung her sword at him with even less finesse than Connor had shown, but that was deliberate. While the vampire was dodging the sword, Marceline slipped her hand into her pocket, produced the letter opener and plunged it into his heart.

As the vampire turned to smoke, Marceline turned on the next one, but he was ready for her. The vampire seized Marceline's wrist and twisted it, making her drop the letter opener and gasp in pain. Then, he placed his hand on her back and swept his leg under her feet and pushed, sending her flying head over heels and slamming her down on the table with an almighty crash.

The vampire put one hand on Marceline's neck so hard she couldn't breathe, and picked up the sword with the other.

The other vampire's gathered around.

"Don't choke her." Archie said, sternly. "Just kill her! Now!"

Marceline cringed. She had _really_ hoped it wouldn't come to this, but it looked like it was time for plan B. With what little strength she had left, Marceline reached into her pocket again, and produced Connor's tooth. She reached up and, without a moment's hesitation, jabbed her own neck with it twice.

The vampire holding her, let go of her neck and lowered the sword. A couple of seconds later, the room exploded with laughter. The vampires were in hysterics.

Marceline felt a burning sensation creeping across her body from her neck. It stung like crazy. Marceline tried to move as soon as the vampire let go of her, but she couldn't.

"You… idiot!" Archie said, in between bursts of laughter. "Don't you know the vampire bite is toxic to demons? You know what? This is a perfect way for you to die. The ultimate proof of how worthless your kind is compared to us. Goodbye demon…"

Archie, along with the rest of the room faded away, as Marceline closed her eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Marceline was standing in a black abyss, the darkness stretched on in all directions. She looked down and jumped. On the ground, was a couple inches of water, in which Marceline could see her reflection. Her head was bulbous and she had two curved horns. Her eyes were wide and turquoise and her mouth was a tall diamond. From her neck, several black tentacles flailed. Marceline averted her gaze. She looked like her dad!

Suddenly, Marceline realised she could hear music. It had been a while since Marceline had found a working cassette player, but she eventually realised it was a bass guitar. The song was slow and sad.

Marceline spun around to find the source of the music. Then she stopped and stared. About fifty feet away from her, a person was floating on their back. Playing a guitar that was resting on their stomach. It was _Marceline_.

Marceline slowly walked over. The other Marceline looked just as she normally did, except for a bite mark on her neck and much sharper teeth. Marceline also noticed that the guitar she was playing was made from her dad's prized axe.

"You don't belong here anymore…" the vampire Marceline said, without looking at her.

"What…?" Marceline was incredibly confused. She wasn't surprised to hear that her voice was deep and rumbling.

"Archie's right. There's no place for demons in this world, not before the war, and not after. That's why vampires kick your butt so easily. And it's why the vampire bite is gonna kill you."

"No way dude!" Marceline snapped. "I'm only half-demon!"

"Yeah, that's why I'm here." The other Marceline explained. "I used to be your human half, now I'm your vampire half. And now, I'm going to live, and you're going to die. The bite is going to cleanse us."

The vampire put her feet on the floor and raised the axe.

"No more demon…" She said menacingly.

Marceline realised what the vampire meant, not a second too soon. The vampire charged forwards and swung her axe. Marceline tried to avoid it, but she wasn't used to the size of her body. She stumbled and the axe put a hefty gash in her cheek. A splatter of green blood covered the axe.

Marceline fell backwards and into the water with a splash. Tiny ripples flowed around her and into the darkness. The vampire floated over her and raised the axe, like an executioner.

"Goodbye… you filthy demon…"

The axe fell through the air and towards Marceline's neck. Marceline shrieked. The tentacles around her neck exploded into a colossal web, which ensnared the vampire. They converged around her, and slammed her into the water, with an enormous splash.

Marceline knelt over the vampire version of herself and picked up her dad's axe.

"Why are you even fighting this?" The vampire Marceline hissed. "You hate your dad and everything about him! Including your own demon side!"

Marceline snapped the axe in half with her bare hands, the guitar strings sprang back and curled up. She held the bladed end, pointing a sharp, splintered, wooden handle at the vampire.

"I might have problems with my dad, but I have no trouble accepting who I am! I am Marceline Abadeer! I'm a demon from the Nightosphere and I am way better than any lame vampire!"

Marceline plunged the axe's handle into her vampire self's chest, and the world faded away in a glow of white light.

"Goodbye demon…"

Archie and the three other vampires watched, as Marceline's eyes slowly closed. Her arm went limp over the edge of the table and Connor's tooth fell to the floor.

"Take her upstairs and burn her." Archie ordered. "She's only half demon, you never know what'll happen."

One of the vampires nodded. He reached an arm over Marceline to pick her up. Suddenly, Marceline's hand flew at the vampire and seized the wrist that was reaching over her. Marceline's eyes remained closed.

"Erm… Archie?" The vampire said, worriedly.

Marceline sat bolt upright and, with all the effort of a child skipping stones, threw the vampire over her shoulder and into the opposite wall, with such force, the entire room tremored.

Marceline looked straight at Archie. Her eyes turned blood red and her teeth began to look like swords. She gave a blood-curdling shriek and charged at him. At the last minute, Archie flew up and cowered in the upper corner of the room.

"KILL IT!" He roared at his vampires.

The vampires traded glances that confirmed how scared and unwilling they were. They promptly flew at the trap door and wrestled each other to go through it first.

Marceline grew until almost filled the entire room. She erupted in black fur and two battered and torn wings sprouted from her back. She reached up and seized the three escaping vampires, and flattened them against the floor with the palm of her hand. Smoke seeped from between her fingers.

Marceline turned around just in time to see Archie crawling down the hole at the back of the room. At Marceline's will, her body became a writhing mass of black tentacles, which slithered down the corridor and into the sewers.

Archie screamed like a little girl as the tsunami of black that was Marceline bore down on him. He flinched and covered his face. In the second Archie had closed his eyes. Marceline returned to normal, so that she looked exactly as she had when she walked into the shop, not twenty minutes ago. Not that that made Archie any less terrified.

Marceline grabbed the front of Archie's shirt, lifted the enormous vampire up and slammed him into the wall of the sewer, without letting his feet touch the floor.

"Who… turned you…?" Marceline whispered.

"W…w…what?"

"WHO MADE YOU A VAMPIRE!?" She roared.

"This guy in a little town… a few miles south!" Archie whimpered.

"Is he still alive?"

Archie nodded silently.

Marceline let go of him and he dropped the floor. His crown fell from his head as he did.

"There's a reign of vampires coming alright." Marceline said as she walked away. "Cause pretty soon, they're gonna gang up against _me_. And I'm gonna win."

As Marceline walked away, there was a dull clattering sound as Vera flew through the hole in the ceiling. It darted past Marceline and plunged into Archie's chest.

Marceline stood under the hole and watched as Archie turned to smoke, then held up a hand to catch Vera as it flew back to her.

Marceline flew up into the shop's cellar, and then climbed up into the shop. She picked up a black umbrella and stepped out into the sunlight. She made a mental list of what she had to do. She had to stop by her caravan and pick up her teddy bear, Hambo, say goodbye to Bubblegum, and then head south, to find the next pathetic vampire on her list.

She had a lot of work to do.

Marceline had started singing, about Simon and Archie and how she became a vampire. A tear rolled down her cheek as she remembered that last walk she had taken in the sunlight. She quickly stopped playing and wiped her face when she saw Finn and Jake running over.

"Hey Marceline!" Finn shouted up to her. "Peebles is having a huge picnic in the Candy Kingdom! You in?"

Marceline looked up at the sky outside her cave. It was a brilliant blue and there wasn't a cloud in sight. It really was perfect weather for it.

"Sure thing guys. Let me just grab my hat."


End file.
